... what words of wisdom and advice would you give everyone?

Don't follow the crowd, however easy it is.

I don't think in the long run it is the easiest path.

Take my example.

There's been times when this last few years have been shit.

You said to me, cup- you know, when I last saw you, you didn't look too g- great.

Fair enough.

Yes.

that

I had quite a challenging childhood my my mum was a dysfunctional alcoholic which meant that the child in that childhood environment was very chaotic, created certain narratives in me and probably certain templates and stuff that you'd You know, you need to work through as you get older.

And in my 20s, one of the things that was clear is that rather than processing emotions in a healthy way, I did what a lot of people do, which is try and externalize my pain by reaching for things outside of myself to kind of regulate myself.

In my 20s, I smoked probably 50 fags a day, cigarettes if possible.

the younger generation that might not use that terminology.

I used to go out every weekend partying with friends and drinking too much alcohol.

I did no exercise and I had a horrendous diet.

So just wondering your perspectives of that.

like? Panic attacks.

So the first one I had just caught me completely out of the blue.

Like, wasn't expecting it at all.

And the feeling that you get is that you can't breathe.

So your immediate assumption is that you're dying, right? And the sensation of a panic attack is...

absolute terror, like the kind of terror that you have never experienced.

Like I'm generally not frightened.

How bad did it

So when you were designing the business, were there any kind of non-negotiables that you would not compromise on in what the business stood for or what the model was?

Uh, look, I mean, our, our model was really simple.

We looked at financial services, and I'd got a background at building businesses in motor insurance.

Randomly, um, my first company was in claims, and then, um, I built, uh, what's known as an MGA, which is, uh, effectively an insurance business using insurers' balance sheets, but designing products them- themselves.

And so I understood motor insurance, um, as a sort of first product line.

Um, but the, the, the simple premise that we set Stella up with was just starting from the consumer.

So from a female perspective, what risks are, are potentially women exposed to that are more predominantly a problem for them than a problem for men? And then looking at the product design and, and kind of saying, "What's missing from the, the product features? What's missing from the underwriting?" And so my, my non-negotiable was, was simply that we must always start from our customer's perspective, and that we won't allow ourselves to be watered down or generic.

Sprints